A clean action requires a clean intention

Niyama

Niyamas shift the focus onto the Me-Mine axis of the I-triangle, from the Me-notMine axis. The external world provides the required contrast for my own assessment of mine. The entire exercise of niyamas is to clean up that relativistic picture.

Here are the top-5 niyamas Patanjali included in his narration of Yogasutras:

शौच संतोष तपः स्वाध्यायेश्वरप्रणिधानानि नियमाः
śauca saṁtoṣa tapaḥ svādhyāy-eśvarapraṇidhānāni niyamāḥ (2.32)

Cleanliness, contentment, practice of contemplation and meditation, self-study, and surrender to “personal god” are Niyamas.

Śaucha (Cleanliness)

The first one is Śaucha – it’s the cleanliness of the “me” corner. The implication is that the rest will automatically clean up when that corner is clean. Niyamas actually map onto the Karma yoga tenets very well, for a good reason: both address attitude adjustment challenges. Śaucha relates to the Tenet 3: Intentions (over Results). Let’s go back and review that. Mainly, master-yogi Krishna teaches Arjuna that it’s the intentions that matter, because they are the true Karma weavers, and results matter a lot less. And a clean action requires a clean intention, which is the practical implication of Saucha – cleanliness of thought, body will follow…

Let’s us go back to the lifecycle of an action, as crafted by the dualistic mind:

Mine/NotMine Polarity –> I lack –> Fear/Desire –> Thoughts/Intention/Will –> Action –> Result –> Success/Failure knowledge construct –> Polarity

So the cycle is from a polarity to another polarity, generating memory-constructs along the way and altering the “frontal-I” on it’s path – that’s the mechanics of the dualistic world fabricated by the mind.  The knowledge constructs from polarity-to-polarity cycles cloud our intentions, leading larger and larger karma footprints. Krishna details this to Arjuna in Sankhya yoga:

ध्यायतो विषयान्पुंस: सङ्गस्तेषूपजायते | सङ्गात्सञ्जायते काम: कामात्क्रोधोऽभिजायते || 2.62||
dhyāyato viṣhayān puṁsaḥ saṅgas teṣhūpajāyate| saṅgāt sañjāyate kāmaḥ kāmāt krodho ’bhijāyate

While contemplating on the fancies of the mind (viṣhayān), one develops association (saṅgaḥ) with them. That (sustained) association leads to intense desire (kāmaḥ), and from that intense desire arises anger (through Will –>Action –> Result-seeking sequence).

Krishna follows that with how the mind zones in on wrong information in that state, resulting in destructive behavior:
क्रोधाद्भवति सम्मोह: सम्मोहात्स्मृतिविभ्रम: |स्मृतिभ्रंशाद् बुद्धिनाशो बुद्धिनाशात्प्रणश्यति || 2.63||
krodhād bhavati sammohaḥ sammohāt smṛiti-vibhramaḥ| smṛiti-bhranśhād buddhi-nāśho buddhi-nāśhāt praṇaśhyati

From anger sprouts resonance (sam) with infatuation (moha), which in turn forces the intellect to become illusionary and unsteady (vibhramaḥ) as it tries to recollect pertinent memorized knowledge (smṛiti). When that recollection is forced to go shallow, limited and colored, the intellect gets destroyed (when the intellect is destroyed, personality is ruined).

This sequence summarizes how the dualistic mind eventually loses the battle for us, unless we are awake. This chain can be broken only by getting to the root, which is the feeling of “I lack” which in turn arises from the seed-contrast of Mine/NotMine. As Bṛhadaranyaka (and many others) puts it so succinctly: “you are what your deepest driving desire is…”.

In a nutshell, Yogis’ coaching? Break that perpetual cycle of polarity-to-polarity. Again, nothing in our actions or goals need to change necessarily, but it’s just the attitude that needs to be recalibrated. Not giving up, but achieving a balance between two polarities is the key, and hence yoga.

As a side note, why did Krishna only address the Desire –> Disappointment –> Anger path in these verses (2.62, 2.63)? How about Desire –> Success –> Happiness branch?

This is left to the reader as homework. One can theorize that on this Success path, humans won’t stop with a few cycles. The desire only grows with success, and keeps driving us for more, and to succeed more. Not only that, we think we got the formula to take over the world, eventually putting us on the Disappointment-Anger path. And hence requiring a detailed explanation for that path. For example, consider investing a $1 in an asset today that somehow yielded $10 tomorrow. What would that person do with that $10 return on the next day? Even better: what will a person do when a pile of diamonds is found, just lying around, free? Contentment or Santosha is that important Niyama; the second one on the list … We will continue with that next.

May we all be blessed with a “contemplative and vibrant” mind_/\_/\_/\_